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SMPTE Camera Origination and Imaging Medal Award Recipients

2014
Eric R. Fossum

In recognition of his leadership in the invention and development of the CMOS Active Pixel Sensor Technology. This advancement was first published in 1993 while Dr. Fossum worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additionally, he promoted the new technology to a broad range of manufacturers as a new way of making camera image sensors. CMOS image sensor technology is now widely deployed in motion picture and television cameras, cell phones, medical devices, security systems, and many other professional and consumer applications.

Eric R. Fossum is a Professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. His work on miniaturizing NASA interplanetary spacecraft cameras at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the early 1990’s led to his invention of the CMOS image sensor “camera-on-a-chip” that has touched many here on Earth, from every smartphone to automobiles and medicine, from security and safety to art, social media and political change. Used in billions of cameras each year, his technology has launched a world-wide explosion in digital imaging and visual communications.

A graduate of Trinity College and Yale University, Dr. Fossum taught at Columbia and then worked at JPL. He co-founded and led Photobit and Siimpel. He joined Dartmouth in 2010, where he teaches and continues research on image sensors, and coordinates the school’s Ph.D. Innovation Program. He has published over 260 technical papers and holds over 150 U.S. patents.

Honors include induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and election to the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. He co-founded the International Image Sensor Society and served as its first President.

2013
No Award Given

2012
Bryce E. Bayer
The 2012 Camera Origination and Imaging Medal is awarded to Bryce Bayer, inventor of the color filter array that bears his name (the Bayer Filter), a core technology incorporated into nearly every digital camera and camera phone on the market today (U.S. Patent No. 3,971,065). The advent of progressive capture and file based workflows has allowed the Bayer Filter to thrive in current digital cameras for motion pictures and television.